Spring, lovely spring - the garden in April

This year we didn't get too many April showers and with the polytunnel up and running, volunteers have been asked to do a spot of watering.... Click on photos to enlarge them or see a slideshow.

Preparing beds outside

Polytunnel growing

Making a human scarecrow?

Building a herb spiral

Here are a few photos taken this month. As you can see we now have some little gardeners and they love playing with the sticky weed!

A local wildlife project & we still welcome volunteers!

Everybody in Cambridge knows about CCF and Transition Cambridge events, but during the holidays, through a workshop on native snails run by the Zoology Museum (sadly still closed as undergoing major refurbishment) I have found out about the OPWP wildlife project run in the Orchard Park development area, in North Cambridge.

Orchard Park Wildlife project

The reason I have chosen to feature it here is that like us, OPWP is aiming to improve Orchard Park for people and wildlife through community action. You can find information about OPWP on its blog, opwildlife.wordpress.com and see the progress of this local project in the archives. 

Mandy Haywood started the project

 in late 2012: "We had our first activity in early 2013. I have worked in international conservation for many years before embarking on an MSc in Natural History Filmmaking in New Zealand and then moving to an MSc in Science and Society with the Open University in the UK. 

"OPWP is run by volunteers and is not for profit. We raised funds last year from South Cambs District Council and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Biodiversity Partnership Fund to have a Habitats Management Plan for Orchard Park written by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. This plan guides our monthly activities and we're always happy to welcome new people in getting involved. We're grateful for other support by the Orchard Park Community Council and Histon Police Station Safer Neighbourhood Team Community Fund."

So if you live near this area and if you want to participate, please check out opwildlife.wordpress.com  and leave a message of interest addressed to Mandy. 

Back to our Community Garden, we still welcome volunteers. The garden is looking lovely and the polytunnel is full of trays of seedlings. 

PS. Despite a lot of views, nobody entered last week's competition. So I guess we will be eating the prize tomorrow! The culprit was the pheasant.

Whodunnit in the garden... local competition

The scene of the crime

One of our prize veggies has been nibbled hard. Who did it? The suspects...

A fiendish pheasant?

A sneaky snail?

OR a slimy slug?

Who did it? Best guess gets a surprise prize*. Answer next week. Leave a comment to enter the competition.

*Prize to be collected in Cambridge. Please state your age (if 18+ or child's age) so prize is suitable. Photos: Charlotte and Wikimedia.